SETI Institute scientist Pascal Lee presented new findings from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) at NASA Ames last week. Small pits in a large crater near the North Pole of the Moon were discovered and they may be entrances to an underground network of lava tubes. What makes this discovery compelling is that if there is water ice present, these lava tubes could make it easier for future explorers to access water on the moon.

“Our next step should be further exploration, to verify whether these pits are truly lava tube skylights, and if they are, whether the lava tubes actually contain ice. This is an exciting possibility that a new generation of caving astronauts or robotic spelunkers could help address” says Lee. “Exploring lava tubes on the Moon will also prepare us for the exploration of lava tubes on Mars. There, we will face the prospect of expanding our search for life into the deeper underground of Mars where we might find environments that are warmer, wetter, and more sheltered than at the surface.”

Saturn is known to even the most casual astronomical observer by its distinctive rings. Now, based on observations from Cassini, researchers are suggesting that the rings have not always been there and may, in fact, be relatively young, formed possibly 100-200 million years ago, during the age of the dinosaurs. SETI Institute scientist Matija Cuk noted in an interview with National Geographic:

“Even with the unaided eye, Saturn would be as bright as Venus and would be noticeably elongated,” says Matija Cuk of the SETI Institute. “If the dinosaurs had birdlike vision, they would definitely be able to see it. Not clear they would care, though.” (National Geographic)

There’s a push towards getting a manned mission to Mars sooner than previously thought possible. This has stimulated conversation in the scientific community about how to go about protecting Mars from contamination from terrestrial microbes and vice versa. After all, if we were to discover life on Mars, we really wouldn’t want it to be the life that we brought there from Earth. As SETI Institute scientist John Rummel notes:

“If we send Earth organisms to a place where they can grow and thrive, then we might come back and find nothing but Earth organisms, even though there were Mars organisms there before,” says Rummel. “That’s bad for science; it’s bad for the Martians. We’d be real sad about that.” (Science News)

Understanding just how extreme the climate needs to be before it’s impossible for even Earthly extremophiles to survive has been the work of several SETI Institute scientists, including Pascal Lee, whose fieldwork is conducted in the Arctic. Part of that research has included collecting samples from pristine snow, dirty snow behind his vehicle, and from inside the rover’s interior, and sending those samples for analysis. This has indicated that if human vehicles drive over a microbe-free surface in such an environment, they will not contaminate it.

A new show called Offworld is exploring the intersection of space and pop culture. Each episode looks at a science fiction story and puts it the scientific test. In the first episode, they consider the film Contact with guest Jill Tarter. Jill is one of the co-founders of the SETI Institute, is the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute, and is the inspiration for Jodie Foster’s character, Ellie Arroway, in the film Contact.

Even during the busy holiday season, the work of the SETI Institute pushed forward. Scientists and researchers published in peer-reviewed journals, presented at scientific conferences and other professional events, and marked milestones in their research. In addition, they worked hard to share their learning with the public, through articles and interviews with the popular press, through pubic talks, and through the SETI Institute’s website, social media channels, and our radio show and podcast, Big Picture Science.

Last week SETI Institute President and CEO Bill Diamond was at the AAS in Washington D.C. and spent some time with SETI Institute scientist Jeff Coughlin discussing his work on Kepler/K2. He was also joined by Lucianne Walkcowicz, the newest member of the SETI Institute’s Science Advisory Board and an astronomer based at the Adler Planetarium.